A man of many talents, Chris Lundy is a former pro surfer, an innovative surfboard builder, a freelance designer for Nike, and a successful artist. An exhibition of 18 of his paintings, entitled H2O, is currently on view at ACS. A Sarasotan who makes his home in Hawaii, Lundy traded the relative calm of the Gulf Coast for the heavy breakers of Oahu's North Shore in 1974.

The subject of Lundy's paintings is unmistakable: water. Appropriately, he uses a water-soluble medium, acrylic, which he dilutes to a smooth, fluid gloss. Lundy's technique is traditional and founded in naturalism. His aesthetic, however, is contemporary. He has created a unique look—colorful, highly stylized and faintly illustrational—that expands on influences such as Rick Griffin's early 70s surf art. Lundy's strokes are earnest yet playful and mimic the rhythm of water with sensitivity and grace.

Surfers are thrill seekers and it would be downright deviant if Lundy painted placid seas. His waterscapes are rough and windswept and in a constant state of turbulence. Lundy loves waves, especially those of the extreme variety. He depicts them in all their drama as they swell, rise, curl over and break with devastating violence. Their sheer monstrosity calls for size and Lundy's pieces are very large indeed. Painting big is a physical exercise, a sport almost. Lundy sees it as a feat of "visual engineering", resolving compositional complexities and balancing precision with raw emotion.

Most works in the show are horizontal in format. "Beautiful Reaper" is an exception. It consists of five vertical canvases. Arranged side by side, they look like portable walls of water threatening to crash down on you if you come too close. Somehow, with Lundy, you're always pulled right into the action. Just as a surfer rides deeper and deeper into the tube of a wave, the viewer is plunged into a vortex of confusion and convolution. In this world of luminescent bubbles and freaky froth you never know if you're above or below the surface. It is the immediacy of the surfer's perspective which conveys the beauty and danger of nature's force. Having survived the world's biggest waves, and broken his leg in one of them, it is a force Lundy knows all too well. And he evokes it with awe and respect.

Ironically, water, this life-giving primordial brew, can turn deadly. Lundy's work has an ominous edge to it, envisioning future cataclysms in an age of climate change and rising sea levels. Whether as part of a natural cycle or as punishment for our transgressions, we inevitably face another deluge. Works such as "Mama's Mad" suggest a planet foaming with rage. Once blue waters have turned red-hot. They will inundate us, they will wash away the dirt, and they will cleanse us, even if it means our demise.

Lundy's follow-up piece "Mama's Mad 2" provides a glimpse, ever so subtle, of submerged skyscrapers and flooded civilizations. Again, Mother Ocean has reached her boiling point. She appears as an evil-eyed, blood-spewing dragon. Hidden in the crest of a rogue wave you can make out the dragon's jaw. Look closely, and you'll see flared nostrils and fangs. If you ask me, this is the grotesque face of the 2004 Asian Tsunami.

Lundy's sweeping brushwork contains many more of these delicately crafted and delightfully symbolic and prophetic revelations. For all its beauty, Lundy's art delivers a timely and urgent message.

– Daniel Petrov, 7/28/09